Vitamin D Part 2: Huskies and Sunshine.

Hi guys, welcome to my riveting articles on supplements. I’m going to continue with some more vitamin D stuff.

If you haven’t check out the first part, come do the thing and see the thing here!

Fun fact: I want a husky. In fact, I will send you internet love if you send me pictures of your puppers.

pls

So Majestic.

Actual fun fact, not a fake fun fact: There are more trees on earth than there are stars in our galaxy. About three trillion trees are on our big beautiful planet, compared to around 300 billion stars in the milky way.

Anyway, We’re going to talk about some wonderfully fun things today. I promise we will not talk about burning pieces of people…This time.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means that it dissolves in fat and can be stored in our bodies.

How did Vitamin D get its name?

Because it was discovered not too long after the discovery of Vitamin C. So yeah. There really isn’t a riveting story that goes along with the discovery, unfortunately.

Gotta have that vitamin D! Also known as the “sunshine” vitamin, vitamin D is necessary for a variety of processes– as are all the others — but what’s fascinating about this “vitamin”, is that it isn’t exactly a vitamin. It appears to have properties of both Vitamins and hormones. Wow! It’s actually what’s called a prohormone because it is a substance that converts into a hormone within our bodies.

Why is vitamin D called the sunshine vitamin?

Is it because it has some kind of relation to SunnyD? It’s got healthy stuff.

You’ll also have the added benefit of feeling fabulous.

You may be asking yourself “if vitamin D is synthesized through sunlight, how could we possibly become deficient?” Well, there is a multitude of reasons as to why this can occur. Avoidance of sunlight is one such reason. In the hellscape that is Phoenix, Arizona, it is common for us to seek shelter from the sun when at all possible because it’s like stepping out into a damn oven. In the wise words of Peggy Hill, “This city should not exist, it is a monument to man’s arrogance.”

Another interesting reason as to why this can occur is because Vitamin D is synthesized from UV rays, but only when the UV rays are within a certain wavelength(Section 1.4).

Interestingly, Vitamin D can only be produced by our bodies year-round in areas near the equator (Section 1.2). In more northern areas, the ability for us to synthesize Vitamin D from UV rays decreases dramatically for a few months out of the year (Section 1.2).

One more reason this can occur can be due to a much higher concentration of melanin in the skin. People with darker skin have to remain out in the sun for a longer period of time to be able to produce sufficient amounts of Vitamin D, whereas those with lighter skin do not need nearly as much time. Those with dark skin have to be out in the sun for upwards of an hour, whereas those with lighter skin would be fine with about fifteen minutes.

So a deficiency can not only occur for these reasons listed above but also can be attributed to a diet lacking in Vitamin D. So avoidance of sunlight, being in a northern latitude, a diet deficient in Vitamin D, as well as a higher concentration of melanin in our skin, as well as multiple other reasons, can all contribute to the development of a Vitamin D deficiency.

Fortunately, a deficiency is really easy to prevent. There are many foods that contain Vitamin D, but not usually in large enough amounts to make sure you are getting the recommended intake. As I mentioned previously, the daily intake of vitamin D, which is 400 IU; appears to be sufficient for preventing the development of rickets but may not be sufficient to keep Vitamin D blood levels within the proper range. The recommended daily allowance for Vitamin D is about 400-800 IU, and the upper intake level is set around 4,000 IU in the United States and Canada. According to examine.com however, the upper limit is as high as 10,000 IU, with the recommended intake being around 1000 – 2000 IU (International Units) to keep it within the proper range.

Okay, so, you’ve been talking about all kinds of other things related to Vitamin D. Now, what the heck does it do!?

You’ll find out next time, in part 3!

I hope you enjoyed reading my post! Any questions, comments, concerns, love, send them to theogfettuccine@gmail.com or leave a comment below!

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